FERGUSON TOWNSHIP — Before state regulators decide the fate of a long-troubled private water company in rural Centre County, the community has a chance to weigh in.
Ferguson Township will host public input hearings at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Sept. 30, at its municipal building and online.
The township doesn’t oversee Rock Spring Water Company but is involved in the state’s regulatory effort to find a permanent fix for the struggling system, which serves about 1,000 of the township’s residents.
The meetings were requested by the township’s solicitor earlier this month. State law allows these input hearings during forced acquisition cases, which are rare and can be drawn out.
People who want to testify are encouraged — but not required — to pre-register online, by emailing the township’s executive assistant, Jenna Antill, at jantill@twp.ferguson.pa.us, or by calling 814-238-4651 by noon on Sept. 26. The state Office of Consumer Advocate can also help Rock Spring customers pre-register for the hearings by phone at 1-800-684-6560, or email at consumer@paoca.org.
Any exhibits people who testify want to use during the hearing should be emailed to the judge at jcoogan@pa.gov by noon on Sept. 26. They will be forwarded to all parties.
The hearings follow more than a decade of unreliable service for Rock Spring customers, including boil water notices, low pressure, and sudden outages for the people who rely on the system.
A four-month Spotlight PA investigation published in June 2024 revealed how company owner J. Roy Campbell resisted state directives to fix the system’s crumbling infrastructure. He also racked up dozens of regulatory violations and tens of thousands of dollars in civil penalties throughout a yearslong legal battle with the Department of Environmental Protection over excessive water loss.
From 2010 to 2023, Rock Spring hemorrhaged water at an annual average of 63%, according to a Spotlight PA review of reports filed with the Public Utility Commission. Industry standards consider levels greater than 20% to be excessive.
The PUC’s investigative arm launched a review of the private company in May 2024. To offer some relief, state regulators ordered Pennsylvania American Water, one of the state’s largest investor-owned utilities, to take over as the emergency operator in March.
Pennsylvania American previously declined to tell Spotlight PA how much it has spent on system improvements. In an update this month, the company announced that it has reduced water loss by more than 25% — saving up to 40,000 gallons per day — through repairs and upgrades, which have modernized the system and brought it into regulatory compliance.
When ordering the temporary management, utility regulators encouraged Rock Spring to negotiate a sale to the State College Borough Water Authority, which operates nearby and has tried to buy the system in recent years. The municipal-run entity still hopes to be the ultimate buyer.
However, unless Rock Spring voluntarily sells, the regulatory process will likely end with another private utility buying the system because the PUC — which primarily oversees investor-owned utilities — says it cannot order a sale to a provider outside its jurisdiction.
Without a voluntary settlement, the PUC’s case moves forward, and what that means for customers, and their water bills, remains unclear.
Customers interviewed by Spotlight PA in 2024 said that they were conflicted over the worth of paying more for reliable water. How much their rates go up will be the factor that decides how they feel, they said.
If the water authority takes over Rock Spring, customers would pay its current rates, Executive Director Brian Heiser previously told Spotlight PA in an email. They also might pay a temporary extra charge, he added. The water authority has also said it would apply for grants to help pay for improvements, and anything not covered by those funds would be built into an existing capital improvement plan.
For Pennsylvania American or another investor-owned utility, the PUC approves rates, so the cost of system improvements would likely be spread out across the entire customer base.
Evidentiary hearings are scheduled for Oct. 20 and 21 in Harrisburg. The public is welcome to attend, but only parties to the case can testify.